Marvel's Post-'Avengers' Plans Could Include 'Guardians of the Galaxy' and 'The Inhumans'

While it seems like all of Marvel Films’ attention is currently being lavished on its large scale production of The Avengers, the comic studio is also hard at work prepping multiple other projects for its post Avengers schedule. Studio head Kevin Feige even outlined some of those potential plans in the recent EW article on The Avengers. If you missed it in all the nerd glee, here’s what the studio has in store. Some of it will surprise you.

Iron Man 3, Tony Stark’s third theatrical outing, is still on for a May 2013 release. Shane Black is still onboard as director (something we think is a good thing), and everyone’s hoping that he can recapture the magic of the first film while helping us forget the rather lackluster second installment.

Thor 2 is still in the works as well. Since Kenneth Branagh won’t be back to direct (he found the post production process too arduous and had some creative differences with Marvel), the search is on for a new helmer. As we reported last week, Patty Jenkins is currently topping the studio’s wishlist.

The long rumored (and incredibly puzzling) Ant-Man project is still alive and kicking. Feige tells EW that Edgar Wright “has developed a really excellent draft recently.” The film is clearly still laboring through development, but it appears as though Marvel is fully committed to the idea of making a film about a character that no one outside of hardcore comic geeks know or care about.

While that’s all great, we knew about each of those projects. It’s only after discussing those flicks that Feige starts outlining the more surprising plans for readers. Turns out Marvel has two new projects in development – projects that strike as interesting, yet odd, choices for the studio.

First up is Guardians of the Galaxy, a team of superheros who exist in an alternate Marvel future (stick with me – I know this is confusing…) and protect the galaxy from all kinds of alien menaces. The book debuted back in 1969 and was relaunched in 2008 (before being canceled in 2010…). Feige says that “There's an opportunity to do a big space epic, which Thor sort of hints at, in the cosmic side of the [Marvel] universe.” There’s also an opportunity to launch another superhero team a la The Avengers and The X-Men if this property catches on. Of course, the book only ran for two years in its most recent incarnation – meaning that not even comic fans were particularly taken with this tale. It’s an odd choice to adapt for a film.

Finally, there’s also talk of doing a film based on The Inhumans. Without getting too deep into the history, The Inhumans are a team super-humans formed through scientific experimentation and eventually abandoned by their creators (the Kree). The cast off projects form their own society – and the comics tend to focus on the royal family of that group, led by Black Bolt. This, like Guardians of the Galaxy, would be yet another team ensemble piece.

Of the two newer ideas, we’d prefer to see The Inhumans over Guardians of the Galaxy. The series ties into the Kree-Skrull war should give it a nice tie in to The Avengers (if the Avengers do indeed wind up squaring off against the Skrull), and the characters just seem more interesting – plus there’s no alternate reality involved to confuse the non-comic fans who only see the movies for the amazing special effects.

What do you guys think? Would you want to see The Inhumans or Guardians of the Galaxy or would you prefer films featuring more recognizable Marvel characters like Dr. Strange? Share your thoughts below.

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